Former Haggar Clothing Co. chief executive Joseph Haggar Jr., whose company popularized casual pants called "slacks," and who helped clothe President Lyndon B. Johnson, has died at his Dallas home at age 87.

A family statement said Haggar died Friday. His daughter, Lydia Novakov, told The Dallas Morning News that her father died at his Dallas home of heart disease.

The Dallas-based apparel maker was founded by Hagar's father, a Lebanese immigrant, in 1926. Young Joe Haggar joined the family company at age 14 and, except for World War II service and study at the University of Notre Dame, remained with the company until his retirement in 1995.

Among LBJ's recently released telephone recordings were calls he made to Haggar to order slacks.

A Wednesday memorial Mass is scheduled.
NBC Nightly News played one of the conversations between Haggar and LBJ, last night. LBJ told Haggar how he'd like his pants made, with a bit of extra room for the space between his butth*le and other nether regions that I'll not mention here. Use your imagination! :smile-new:

noonwitch

06-05-2012, 11:46 AM

We used to sell Haggar slacks at either K-Mart or Steketees.

Did he also invent the leisure suit, one of the ugliest fashion concepts of the 70s (and that is saying something)?

Gina

06-06-2012, 04:10 PM

We used to sell Haggar slacks at either K-Mart or Steketees.

Did he also invent the leisure suit, one of the ugliest fashion concepts of the 70s (and that is saying something)?

LEISURE SUIT INVENTOR UNRAVELS READING DISORDER

NEW YORK (Wireless Flash - FlashNews) – Did you ever wonder who invented the leisure suit and what he’s doing now?

The leisure suit was invented in 1970 by designer Jerry Rosengarten, who is now a real estate developer in New York City.

The very first polyester double-knit leisure suit was a reversible navy-blue/houndstooth outfit Rosengarten created to highlight the versatility of double-knits.

Unfortunately, the polyester jacket became known as “the sleaze-ure suit” after second-rate companies started making cheap knockoffs in bizarre colors including powder blue and mint green.

Rosengarten says if the major textile mills had jumped on the polyester bandwagon sooner, leisure suits would still be in style today.

These days, the 52-year-old developer is also helping draw attention to a mysterious reading disorder called Scoptopic Sensitivity Syndrome (SSS) which makes words look like a jumbled blob.

Rosengarten says almost 33 percent of the population suffers from SSS, which can be diagnosed by using a Rainbow Reader Test Kit (Avery Publishing). The kit contains colored overlays that are placed over text to make it easier to read.

CONTACT: Jerry Rosengarten, ***1/2 (He’ll talk about leisure suits only if he can talk about SSS.); NYC; (212) 242-6464

The reason they started calling them "sleazure suits" had more to do with the behavior of many of the men wearing them than the knock-off versions in dayglo colors. There's a reason they called the decade "The Swinging 70s". It's when the bar hook-up culture began.

My dad had little fashion taste. He had a blue/grey leisure suit, with short sleeves. He would wear it with a long-sleeved, shiny shirt with some ugly pattern on it. He tried to charm the living crap out of secretaries all over Grand Rapids while wearing it.

Gina

06-06-2012, 05:27 PM

The reason they started calling them "sleazure suits" had more to do with the behavior of many of the men wearing them than the knock-off versions in dayglo colors. There's a reason they called the decade "The Swinging 70s". It's when the bar hook-up culture began.

My dad had little fashion taste. He had a blue/grey leisure suit, with short sleeves. He would wear it with a long-sleeved, shiny shirt with some ugly pattern on it. He tried to charm the living crap out of secretaries all over Grand Rapids while wearing it.

Oh my. haha

SaintLouieWoman

06-06-2012, 08:49 PM

There's a little old guy in our subdivision who thinks he's charming when he wears what's worse than a leisure suit---a royal blue polyester jump suit. He wears it at every HOA meeting, when he gets all worked up complaining about everything. :biggrin-new:

noonwitch

06-07-2012, 09:47 AM

There's a little old guy in our subdivision who thinks he's charming when he wears what's worse than a leisure suit---a royal blue polyester jump suit. He wears it at every HOA meeting, when he gets all worked up complaining about everything. :biggrin-new:

At least mechanics wear cotton or denim jumpsuits, with their names embroidered on them. But that can be hot, depending on the mechanic.

namvet

06-07-2012, 10:34 AM

I worked for HD Lee before I took off to Nam. got to model all the latest fashion Jeans for the big shots. in return they gave em to me.